Clamping Down On Criminal Thoughts — A Better Way To Lower The Crime Rate?

(Reuters) - A New York City police officer accused of plotting to kidnap and cannibalize women had been having dark fantasies since he was a teenager, but had no intention of ever turning those thoughts into reality, his attorney said on Monday at the start of his federal trial.

Attorney Julia Gatto also said that Officer Gilberto Valle, who faces 20 years to life in prison if convicted, talked online about torturing his own wife and her female friends and colleagues.

"What really turns on is the idea of a woman - oiled, bound, laid out on a platter with an apple in her mouth, about to be cooked," Gatto told jurors in opening arguments. "That's his dirty little secret."

She argued that Valle was engaged in online sexual fantasy role play involving a little-known internet subculture where people with unconventional desires gather to act them out in cyberspace but with no intention of every carrying out criminal acts. (source)

What do you think about the idea of prosecuting people for unacted-upon thoughts? Is that a horrible idea or a creative way of putting away people with homicidal, phedophiliac, or larcenous thoughts before they commit a crime.